We're on Vacation

Alright, so, in spite of the difficulties finding supplies in Morocco, I have managed to make one collage.
This one is called We're on Vacation. The writing on it says in Arabic, Nahhnu Fii 'Otla, or as some would type it, Na7nu Fii 36la, being that there are no English equivalents for some Arabic letters, certain numbers are used in their place in typing. As you've probably already guessed, it translates into "we're on vacation". My favorite aspect of it is the color scheme. The use of the gradients of green gives it a sickly, clinical feel. Well, that's how I feel, at least.
Due my difficulties finding supplies, I had to make it using glue sticks and a boxcutter. I have not given up my search for rubber cement and a quality x-acto knife, but didn't feel like waiting until I found them. I am definitely surprised at how well it came out, considering that I didn't have those supplies. I still have yet to put any finish on it, however, and am skeptical that I will find anything of the caliber of Mod Podge, here. As for the pictures, I still haven't found a solid used bookstore, where I can get plenty cheap books full of plenty of images. However, I did manage to find a decent used book market in the medina in Casablanca. I took advantage of it for the few days I was there, but, unfortunately HQ is nowhere near Casa, so I am going to have to find an alternative, soon. Anyway, at the market I grabbed a good stack of old Arabic magazines for around 30 dirhams. That's somewhere around being equivalent to $3! Among the magazines, were a couple old Fatah propaganda magazines. I felt bad cutting those ones up, since those were great historical documents, even if it is not considered to be a very positive history. No less, I bit the bullet and took a razor to them. The marching children in the background were actually being trained to become child fighters for Fatah, in the article I took it from. I thought the lady up front was not supposed to be anyone in particular, but was informed by a friend that she is famous Lebanese singer and ex-queen. I find this odd, since I found her picture in an ad for al-'Araqiyya Airlines, an old Iraqi airline. Also, as far as I know there isn't a royal family in Lebanon and hasn't been for a long time. There is, however a queen of the Strawberry Festival in Lebanon, Maine.

Shots from the Delta of Venus show

It's been quite a while since I've updated this thing. Hopefully people haven't forgotten about it. I haven't been doing too much collaging, lately. I had a pretty busy/lazy summer and didn't get much done and have been living in Morocco for the last few months. I'm going to school there in a small town between Fes and Meknes and won't be back in the States until late spring. It's fairly difficult finding a steady stream of used books and other necessary collaging supplies, so I have managed to continue to maintain my state of relative inactivity in this arena, but am trying hard to resolve it. There is one nearly finished piece waiting to be completed, back home. Possibly, the most sacrilegious one yet, but it will have to keep waiting until I get back.
All that aside, the collage showing at the Delta of Venus in Davis this summer went well. I had plenty of positve feedback from it, though didn't manage to sell any of them. I suppose that would be my own fault for not pricing them, but, nonetheless, it went well. As you can see, above are some long overdue pictures of the show. My collages are mixed amongst the works of the other artists there, but are easy to spot as they are the ones precariously mounted on whatever flat surfaces I could find.
In other news, in spite of being on another continent, I have recently agreed to have "the Future is a Machine..." raffled off at the Gearhead Records 1 year anniversary show in Woodland, Ca. Gearhead is a punk rock record label that has been around for about 8 years now, possibly most well known for putting out such bands as, the Hives, the Hellacopters, New Bomb Turks, the Rock N Roll Soldiers and Riverboat Gamblers, but has plenty of other great bands worth checking out as well. They have also opened up their first record store in the fine city of Woodland about a year ago, which is what the festival was celebrating. Unfortunately the festival already passed (Nov. 8th) and I apologize for not informing people sooner, but if you are a resident of the greater Sacramento area and are tired of the lack of good punk record stores, I strongly recommend stopping by the store sometime. The people are friendly and helpful and the shop could always use your support to keep running. As if supporting Gearhead, itself, wasn't already reason enough for the donation of my collage, all the benefits from the auction went to the Woodland Sexual and Domestic Violence Center . Certainly a worthy cause.